9 JAN 2017

Police Scotland have been condemned for “incredible” delays in their probe into the use of Scots airports for CIA torture flights.More than three years into their investigation, they have refused to reveal what progress has been made.Campaigners say there is an urgent need to know what part Scotland played in rendition – where US prisoners were sent to be tortured overseas in the wake of 9/11 – ahead of Donald Trump’s presidency.It is feared Trump, who has advocated “a lot worse than waterboarding”, may reinstate rendition in the US war on terror.Former Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael, who called for an independent inquiry into the UK Government’s involvement in rendition, hit out at the delays.The Lib Dem MP said: “It is incredible that an investigation of this sort should take so long and produce so little. Either Police Scotland are not taking it seriously or they are not getting proper co-operation from UK intelligence services. Britain and Scotland should not be used as a glorified stopover for Trump as he drives a coach and horses through international law.”Barack Obama banned the transfer of prisoners to countries where they would be tortured, including flying people to CIA secret prisons outside the US.Police are looking at the extent of CIA flights operated through UK airports – including Edinburgh, Wick, Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee and Leuchars. – for fuel stops and overnight stays.Research from the Rendition Project, found more than 1620 flights in and out of the UK by aircraft documented as being involved in alleged rendition. It is not clear how many were carrying detainees.Human rights charity Reprieve have written to Scottish Justice Secretary Michael Matheson demanding to know if Police Scotland have made recommendations to the Crown Office in the investigation.Reprieve’s Clive Stafford Smith said: “With torture enthusiast Donald Trump headed for the White House, the Scottish and UK Governments must up their game. We know Scottish airports were used in the Bush era by CIA jets carrying out ‘rendition’ operations. The Scottish and UK Governments need to make clear to Trump that this will not be tolerated. That is why it is worrying that so little progress seems to have been made.”Green MSP John Finnie, who called for an investigation into the flights in 2013, will write to Lord Advocate James Wolffe this week asking for an update.Police Scotland said: “The investigation is still ongoing with regular updates being provided to Crown Office. It would be inappropriate to comment further.”https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/cops-slammed-over-scottish-airports-9587106.amphttps://archive.is/FwYzY

2 Feb 2016

THE UK GOVERNMENT is facing demands to reveal the details of a secret flight through Scottish airspace which was at the centre of a plot to capture whistleblower Edward Snowden.The plane, which passed above the Outer Hebrides, the Highlands and Aberdeenshire, was dispatched from the American east coast on June 24 2013, the day after Snowden left Hong Kong for Moscow. The craft was used in controversial US ‘rendition’ missions.Reports by Scottish journalist Duncan Campbell claim the flight, travelling well above the standard aviation height at 45,000 feet and without a filed flight plan, was part of a mission to capture Snowden following his release of documents revealing mass surveillance by US and UK secret services.

That the flight passed over Scotland, airspace regulated by the UK, has raised questions over UK complicity in a covert mission to arrest Snowden and whether any police, aviation or political authorities in Scotland were made aware of the flight path.Alex Salmond, the SNP foreign affairs spokesman and Scotland’s First Minister when the flight took place, has called for full transparency from the UK Government over the case.He said: “As a matter of course and courtesy, any country, particularly an ally, should be open about the purposes of a flight and the use of foreign airspace or indeed airports.”“What we need to know now is, was this information given to the UK Government at the time. If so, then why did they give permission? If not, then why not? As a minimum requirement, the UK authorities should not allow any activity in breach of international law in either its airspace or its airports.“That is what an independent Scotland should insist on. Of course, since no rendition actually took place in this instance, it is a moot point as to whether intention can constitute a breach of human rights. However, we are entitled to ask what the UK Government knew and when did they know it.”The flight took place after US federal prosecutors filed a criminal complaint against Snowden on June 14. Regular meetings with the FBI and CIA, convened by US Homeland Security adviser Lisa Monaco, then planned Snowden’s arrest for alleged breaches of the Espionage Act, according to The Washington Post.New documents, revealed by Danish media group Denfri, confirm that the N977GA plane was held at a Copenhagen airport for “state purposes of a non-commercial nature”. Two days later Danish authorities received an “urgent notification” from the US Department of Justice to cooperate in arresting Snowden.N977GA was previously identified by Dave Willis in Air Force Monthly as an aircraft used for CIA rendition flights of US prisoners. This included the extradition of cleric Abu Hamza from the UK. Snowden accused the Danish Government of conspiring in his arrest. In response to flight reports, he said: “Remember when the Prime Minister Rasmussen said Denmark shouldn’t respect asylum law in my case? Turns out he had a secret.”Snowden was behind the largest leak of classified information in history, revealing spying activities that were later deemed illegal on both sides of the Atlantic. He was elected rector at the University of Glasgow in February 2014, yet is unable to fully carry out his duties.Patrick Harvie, co-convener of the Scottish Green Party, echoed calls for an inquiry into the flight: “It will certainly raise suspicions that an aircraft previously identified as involved in rendition flew through UK airspace at that time. We have a right to know what UK and Scottish authorities knew about this flight given it is implicated in the US response to whistleblowing about global surveillance.”ATTEMPTS to arrest Snowden have failed as Russian authorities refused to comply. However, pressure from US authorities made it dangerous for Snowden to travel from Russia to Latin America, where Ecuador, Nicaragua, Bolivia, and Venezuela have all offered him asylum.The presidential plane of Bolivian leader Evo Morales was forced to ground in Vienna, after four EU nations refused airspace access on the mistaken belief that Snowden was hidden on board.In 2013 Police Scotland launched an investigation into whether other US rendition flights – where prisoners were taken to blacklist torture sites – used Scottish airports or airspace.In 2006 aviation expert Chris Yates said it was likely that a US rendition flight had passed through Scottish airspace to Syria, in a case where the prisoner, Maher Arar, said he was tortured.In 2008 then foreign secretary David Miliband admitted that UK airports had been used for US rendition flights and apologised for previous government denials.American politics lecturer John MacDonald, director of foreign policy group the Scottish Global Forum, said: “Given the constitutional arrangements, there are a number of areas in which the Scottish Government may well have interests or concerns but will be excluded because security arrangements with the US are deemed ‘out of bounds’ for Scotland.“However, if you take serious the supposition that all responsible governments have a moral and legal obligation to raise questions about flights which may be involved in dubious security and intelligence activities, then the Scottish Government may well have an interest in – or even be obliged to –raise questions.“Questions have already been raised about the nature of military and intelligence air traffic through Scotland and if this activity is raising concerns within Scottish civil society – and it seems to be – then it is surely incumbent upon the Scottish Government to raise the issue with London.”National Air Traffic Control Systems (Nats), who control flight access to UK airspace, said rendition flights are an issue for the UK Government. In response to questions, the UK Government refused to provide details on attempts to arrest Snowden or on the passage of the N977GA flight.The Scottish Government also avoided a direct statement on the case on legal grounds. A spokesman said: “There is already an ongoing Police Scotland investigation, directed by the Lord Advocate. This investigation will seek to gather all available evidence of rendition flights using Scottish airports. As this is a live investigation it would be inappropriate to comment further.”During his two and a half years in Moscow, Snowden has caused diplomatic ruptures and a worldwide debate on privacy and state security. In October 2015 the European Parliament voted narrowly, in a non-binding motion, to drop charges against him in recognition of “his status as [a] whistle-blower and international human rights defender”.

19 APR 2015

A RENDITION expert fears police have been too quick to clear American spooks overtorture flights landing in Scotland.Police are investigating CIA rendition flights which ferried terror suspects around the world to Guantanamo Bay and secret torture camps.We told last week how detectives now do not believe detainees were on board when flights touched down in Scotland.Yesterday Dr Sam Raphael compared the planes to getaway cars used in a bank jobs, and said a crime still took place.The Sunday Mail also understands Scots detectives have requested a full version of a US Senate report detailing a network of CIA torture prisons.The document includes information which nails three flights whichtouched down in Scotland as being involved in transporting suspects for torture.Dr Sam Raphael, author of The Rendition ProjectDr Raphael, an academic behind research group the Rendition Project, said: “We’re told there were no detainees on board the planes when they landed in Scotland but that’s missing the point.The investigation is into whether those flights – which were on the way to or from rendition operations – have broken Scots law. Were the people on the aircraft violating Scottish law by committing acts preparatory to kidnap and torture? And did any government official at Holyrood or Westminster know these acts were taking place? An individual can be guilty of involvement in a bank robbery if they drive the getaway car – they don’t have to be the person holding the gun.”We revealed last year that police were focusing on six stopovers – four at Prestwick airportand two at Glasgow.The US Senate report – partially declassified in December – provides further information relating to three of them.It mentions the suspects’ treatment in countries they were transported to.The CIA used Gulfstream jets to move prisoners around the world and take them to Guantanamo.One is Khaled Sheikh Mohammed who was rendered from Afghanistan to Poland for torture in 2003.Gulfstream Jet N379P – dubbed the Guantanamo Express – stopped at Glasgow Airport in March 2003 on the way back from dropping him off at a CIA torture prison in Poland known as Detention Site Blue.Dr Raphael said: “What’s been released is a summary about 500 hundreds pages. The full report is some 6000 pages long.“Facts, dates and locations have been redacted. If Scottish police were able to get the unedited version, they would have access to a lot of potential evidence.”Police Scotland’s Major Crime and Terrorism Investigation Unit are leading the inquiry.We revealed last week that a two-year probe into the so-called rendition flights has failed to unearth evidence that terror suspects were on planes which landed in Scotland.http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/rendition-expert-fears-police-were-5546817 https://archive.is/grzm8

12 APR 2015

There is no proof that prisoners were on board when CIA torture flights landed in Scotland, detectives claim.A two-year police probe into theso-called rendition flights has failed to unearth evidence that terror suspects were travelling on planes which used Scots airports.Officers from Police Scotland’s Major Crime and Terrorism Investigation Unit launched a major inquiry into evidence that aircraft travelled via Scotland to or from torture sites.Researchers believe the flights were part of rendition circuits used by the US to move terror suspects between secret jails and interrogation centres.We revealed last year that detectives were focusing their inquiries on six stopovers in Scotland.Dozens of other CIA-linked flights which passed through Scottish airports are also suspected as possible rendition flights.Police last week revealed a probe into “extraordinary rendition was ongoing” but said nothing had been found to suggest suspects were on board at the time.It’s believed the Scottish stopovers may have been for refuelling, crew rest or other technical reasons.It’s unclear what charges could result from the police inquiry but Scotland’s top law officer has instructed detectives to carry out a thorough probe.A previous investigation in 2007 and 2008 found insufficient evidence to proceed any further but in 2013 Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland QC asked police to reopen the inquiry.He said at the time: “There should be no dilly-dallying. I am confident the police will conduct a thorough inquiry. The use of torture cannot be condoned. It is against international law and the common law of Scotland.”The police are understood to be focusing on six stopovers – four at Prestwick Airport in Ayrshire and two at Glasgow.All are “known or highly likely” to have been part of rendition circuits.Other flights implicated in possible rendition landed at Edinburgh, Wick, Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee and Leuchars. The police probe includes looking at evidence a CIA jet landed in Glasgow after carrying 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to a secret torture prison in Poland.A rendition circuit was a series of flights by a CIA aircraft, picking up suspects from one foreign prison and taking them to another before returning to America.Academics from research group the Rendition Project say jets would stop in Scotland on the outward or return legs of rendition circuits.The project’s Dr Sam Raphael said: “We welcome the police investigation. It needs to be robust and comprehensive to get to the bottom of Scottish involvement in these crimes.”In December, a US Senate investigation found a network of CIA torture prisons – known as black sites – from Thailand to Poland to the notorious Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.Their report triggered demands for a similar, full-scale inquiry in Britain.Mulholland also instructed Scots detectives to scrutinise the report for evidence which may help their inquiry.DCI Faroque Hussain, of Police Scotland’s Border Policing Command Investigations, said: “An investigation into extra-ordinary rendition is ongoing. Inquiries to date have not uncovered evidence of detainees being on board aircraft which stopped in Scottish airports.”Last week, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said they were considering releasing flight records relating to Diego Garcia, following disclosures in the US that interrogations took place at a CIA black site on the British-governed island in the Indian Ocean. FCO officials said they are “still assessing the suitability of the full flight records for publication”http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/cia-torture-flights-scotland-detectives-5502867https://archive.is/cT8Wa

22 JUN 2014

POLICE are investigating evidence that a CIA jet landed in Glasgow after carrying 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to a secret torture prison in Poland.And the Sunday Mail can reveal that elite detectives are also probing five other stopovers in Scotland, which researchers suspect were part of CIA “rendition circuits” to move terror suspects between secret jails and torture sites.A rendition circuit was a series of flights by a CIA aircraft, often leaving the US, picking up suspects from one foreign prison, taking them to another and then returning to America.Researchers from pressure group The Rendition Project say jets would stop in Scotland on the outward or return legs.The six stops police are understood to be focusing on – four at Prestwick and two at Glasgow – are “known or highly likely” to have been part of rendition circuits.A seventh flight is suspected but unconfirmed and the experts believe there may have been many more.They say CIA aircraft made hundreds of stops at airports around Scotland which they suspect were linked in some way to rendition.Chief al-Qaeda strategist Mohammed, the brains behind the 9/11 atrocity, was arrested in Pakistan on March 1, 2003, and taken to the US base at Bagram in Afghanistan.Next day, according to the researchers, a CIA jet left Dulles airport in Washington and flew to Bagram, via Prague and Tashkent in Uzbekistan.The experts suspect that the plane collected Mohammed and took him to a secret prison – or “black site” – in Poland.He later claimed he was tortured there for six months. He said the CIA told him they would not let him die but would take him “to the verge of death and back again”.Khalid Sheikh MohammedMohammed said he was beaten, forced to stand for hours on end and hosed down with water. He also claimed his interrogators put a plastic collar round his neck and used it to repeatedly slam his head against a wall.And he alleged he was subjected five times to waterboarding, where a suspect is suspended upside-down and his face is forced into a water-soaked cloth, preventing him from breathing.The researchers’ evidence suggests that after delivering Mohammed to Poland, the CIA jet returned to Prague.It then allegedly flew on to Glasgow on March 8, where it spent 24 hours before heading back to Washington.The Rendition Project also suspect that another of the architects of 9/11, Yemeni fanatic Ramzi bin al Shibh, was rendered from Morocco to Poland the month before Mohammed by a jet which then stopped at Prestwick.Detectives from the Major Crime and Terrorism Investigation Unit, based at Govan police station in Glasgow, are probing the possible involvement of Scotland in rendition flights and speaking to potential witnesses.A previous investigation in 2007 and 2008 found insufficient evidence to back the claims, but Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland QC asked police last year to reopen the inquiry.He said at the time: “There should be no dilly-dallying. I am confident the police will conduct a thorough inquiry. The use of torture cannot be condoned. It is against international law and the common law of Scotland.”At Mulholland’s request, detectives are looking at evidence compiled by the Rendition Project, led by Dr Sam Raphael of Kingston University in London and Dr Ruth Blakeley of the University of Kent.Raphael and Blakeley say they have detailed information on CIA stops in Scotland, including that of the jet which possibly took Mohammed to Poland and the five other “known or highly likely” rendition flights.They believe that 50 aircraft linked to renditions landed in Scotland between September 2001 and September 2006. Flights allegedly used Prestwick, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Wick, Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee and RAF Leuchars.Raphael and Blakeley believe another 83 CIA flights stopped in Scotland on the way to or from countries known to be involved in secret detentions, including Afghanistan, Algeria, Egypt, Georgia, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Yemen.The Rendition Project say these flights may have carried prisoners, or provided support for the programme by taking interrogators or supplies to black sites.Raphael and Blakeley say five of the “known or highly likely” flights, including the one which possibly transported Mohammed, involved Gulfstream jet N379P.It was known as the Guantanamo Express because it flew suspects to the notorious US detention centre in Cuba. Mohammed remains there to this day.The researchers believe N379P stopped in Prestwick in December 2001 after taking two Egyptian suspects, Mohamed el-Zery and Ahmed Agiza, from Sweden to a torture site in Cairo.The pair later alleged they were put on the plane after being dressed in nappies and overalls, hooded, handcuffed and bound at the ankles. Once aboard, they were strapped down on a mattress.In Cairo, Agiza alleges torturers put electrodes on his genitals and threatened to kill him and rape his family.El-Zery claims he was blindfolded for two months, given shocks to his ears, nipples and genitals, and held in a 5ft by 5ft cell for 10 months. Both men are now free.Raphael and Blakeley also suspect that N379P went through Prestwick on January 15, 2002, after a rendition operation involving another Egyptian, Mohammed Saad Iqbal Madni.Madni had been arrested in Jakarta, Indonesia, at the request of the CIA.He claimed he was beaten up in Indonesia by an Egyptian intelligence agent , then handcuffed, put in leg irons and taken aboard the CIA plane, where he was shut inside a wooden box.Madni said he was taken to Cairo and interrogated for 12 to 15 hours at a time about Afghanistan and Osama Bin Laden. When he failed to provide answers, he was given electric shocks.He claimed he spent three months in a 6ft by 4ft room before the Americans flew him to Afghanistan, where he was regularly beaten and placed in the “strappado” position – hanging from the ceiling with his feet barely touching the ground.A year later, he was flown to Guantanamo, where he twice tried to hang himself. He was freed without charge in 2008.Raphael told us: “We welcome the police investigation. It needs to be robust and comprehensive to get to the bottom of Scottish involvement in these crimes. The Rendition Project last year released the largest public set of evidence regarding rendition flights in the ‘war on terror’. We have demonstrated conclusively that CIA aircraft landed at Scottish airports hundreds of times between 2001 and 2006, when the Agency was operating its global system of rendition, secret detention and torture. We have also documented specific cases where Scottish airports played a key logistical role in operations where individuals were transferred illegally by the CIA and tortured in secret.”Raphael called on the Scots detectives to study the US Senate’s 6300-page Torture Report, now being declassifed.He said: “Details in there would confirm for sure what role Scotland played.”He also urged police to study documents from the Detainee Inquiry in London, which closed at the end of last year.The Crown Office said it would be inappropriate to comment on a live investigation. Police said: “Inquiries into the matter are ongoing.”http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/revealed-police-investigate-evidence-six-3741550https://archive.is/rUQuL

A jet owned by a senior executive in the US firm which has bought Liverpool Football Club was chartered by the CIA and used in flights allegedly linked to the rendition of terror suspects. The plane is owned by Phillip Morse, 69, the vice-chairman of New England Sports Ventures, which bought the club on Friday for £300million.An investigation has established that between 2002 and 2005 the CIA chartered the plane from Mr Morse for millions of pounds and made extensive use of it.

Paid by the CIA: Philip Morse, above right, with ex-U.S. president George Bush Snr

Inquiries by the European Parliament and human rights groups have linked the plane to alleged extraordinary rendition operations which took place during the same period.A European Parliament report linked the jet directly to the abduction of Abu Omar, an Islamic preacher, who was snatched from a Milan street by the CIA in 2003 before being taken to Cairo.Extraordinary rendition entails the abduction and transfer of a terrorist suspect from one country to another. People have been taken to states such as Egypt, Syria, Morocco and Uzbekistan which are suspected of practising torture in violation of a United Nations Convention.The disclosure that such a senior figure in New England Sports Ventures (NESV) has been paid millions by the CIA is likely to alarm football fans already concerned that one of the country’s most prestigious clubs is still in American hands.

Snatched: Abu Omar was apprehended by the CIA while in Italy

Mr Omar was snatched by the CIA in 2003 despite having been granted political asylum by the Italian government. He was moved to an American air force base at Aviano near Venice before being transported to a NATO base in Ramstein in Germany. He was then flown from Germany to Cairo.The European Parliament report reproduced flight documents for Mr Morse’s jet, which carries the logo of the Boston Red Sox baseball team, also owned by NESV, on its tail fin. The 19-seater Gulfstream IV, with the registration N85VM, flew from Washington to Ramstein on February 4, 2003.On February 17, the day of Mr Omar’s abduction and rendition, the plane left Ramstein at 6.52pm and arrived in Cairo at 10.30pm. The following day the plane made the return journey to Washington via Shannon in Ireland.MEPs and European rights campaigners believe the plane may have been used in other rendition operations. They point out that its travel destinations, which are detailed in flight logs, are totally at odds with those expected of a normal private charter jet.During the same period it was on loan to the CIA the jet flew to Kabul in Afghanistan, Rabat in Morocco, Tripoli in Libya and Baku in Azerbaijan. The jet, which changed its registrations details in December 2004 to N227SV, also made at least 51 trips to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.Amnesty International, which produced a report on rendition flights in 2006, believes the aircraft may have notched up 114 separate take offs and landings at the facility.In a report released exclusively to The Mail on Sunday last week, human rights group Reprieve raises concerns that the plane was used in at least two more rendition flights.It links a flight from Guantanamo Bay to Morocco on March 27 2004 and a journey from Guantanamo to Romania and Morocco on April 12 2004 to the abduction of al Qaeda operatives Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri, Abu Zubaydah, Ramzi bin al-Shibh and Mustafa al-Hawsawi.

Abduction link: Mr Morse’s jet with the Red Sox logo on its tail fin

All four men were reportedly transferred from Guantanamo to foreign prisons in March and April 2004.

The CIA subsequently admitted that it has video footage of al-Shibh under interrogation in a Morocco black prison. The plane’s flight records show it also made a series of visits to RAF Leuchars in Scotland and also landed at Glasgow, Edinburgh and Luton airports.

Located by The Mail on Sunday at his home in Florida on Friday night, Mr Morse confirmed the arrangement with the CIA. He said: ‘Yeah, that’s true.’But he insisted he had stopped renting the plane to the agency after he became aware of the rendition of Mr Omar. He said: ‘The plane is still chartered. It’s just not chartered to the CIA.’He said he became aware of the investigation into Mr Omar’s abduction in early 2005 and at that point he stopped hiring the jet to the CIA. He said: ‘I didn’t know anything at the time. I don’t know that it’s ever been verified.’

Mr Morse, a partner in NESV, made his fortune from a company he founded which makes tubes used in heart surgery.

In 2002 he bought a ten per cent stake in NESV, which experts believe was valued at £26million at the time.

Mr Morse bought the white Gulfstream IV in 1995.

Clara Gutteridge of Reprieve said: ‘Questions have now been raised about the involvement of Mr Morse’s plane N85VM in three illegal rendition operations, and Reprieve is actively investigating its involvement in a number of further “transfers to torture. In light of these revelations, I hope very much that Mr Morse’s moral fibre is of the same high calibre as his bank balance. I therefore look forward to Mr Morse’s full co-operation with our investigations into the clandestine activities of this executive jet. If Mr Morse fails to assist in investigations, this would raise serious questions as to his fitness to own Liverpool Football Club.’Overseas tycoons now own nine of the 20 Premier League clubs. A NESV UK spokesman said: ‘Phillip is a passive investor in NESV and is not involved in our work here in the UK. Phillip addressed these questions publicly back in 2005, and any further inquiries about the use of his private plane are really a matter for Phillip.’http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1321244/CIA-paid-Liverpool-buyout-tycoons-millions–use-jet-torture-flights.html#ixzz4ZpCkrbCthttps://archive.is/SCeSP

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